


Gem Fever

by DemyxDancer



Series: Professionals [8]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, I invented this disease purely to write fluffy fic about Gems comforting each other, Little Homeworld, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:06:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24224788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemyxDancer/pseuds/DemyxDancer
Summary: Every few decades, a gem fever pandemic sweeps through the Gempire, causing a miserable week or so before disappearing as quickly as it came. Peridot's used to it. What she isn't used to is Gems comforting and supporting each other through it.Oh, and ice. Theynevergave her ice.
Relationships: Bismuth/Pearl (Steven Universe), Blue Zircon & Peridot (Steven Universe), Lapis Lazuli/Peridot (Steven Universe)
Series: Professionals [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1573660
Comments: 58
Kudos: 99





	1. Bedtime Stories

**Author's Note:**

> Gem fever is an expanded version of the concept in [this short fic.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22993861/chapters/55230802)
> 
> This story is about Gems helping each other through a pandemic. It's an imaginary disease with no chance of lasting harm, and this is a gentle fluff story meant to comfort. Still, if you don't feel comfortable reading about a pandemic, please be warned.
> 
> This story uses the headcanons from [Professionals](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21728824/chapters/51833323), but is a standalone fic.

“Morp retreat,” said Peridot, flopping upside down on Zircon’s couch, her words dripping with despair.

“Yes, hello to you too, Peri.” Zircon looked over her screens at her friend. “Are you okay?”

“Morp retreat.”

“You’ve said that twice now, and it isn’t an answer to my question.”

“Morp. Retreat.”

Zircon sighed, collapsing her screens. She was getting the familiar feeling that today was going to be a wash, productivity-wise. “So. You’re having a problem, and you want either my time or my input, but instead of simply telling me what it is, you’re going to require me to inefficiently draw it out of you.”

Peridot nodded.

“The morp retreat -- that must be the one Lapis mentioned, the one the human morpists invited her to?”

“Morp retreat,” said Peridot, in agreement.

“She was telling me about that. It sounded like a great opportunity for her. I’m going to assume you’re happy for her, but also sad because she won’t be around for… what was it? Five days?”

“Four days.”

“So you do remember more than two words! When did she leave?”

“Last night.”

Zircon narrowed her eyes. “So she’s been gone for less than a day, and you’ve already been reduced to collapsing into a puddle on my couch and mumbling cryptic phrases?”

“Four days! Morp retreat!”

“Oh,” said Zircon, realizing what this was about. “You want me to keep you company, don’t you?” 

The despair on Peridot’s face was immediately replaced with a pleading grin.

Zircon pulled up a screen with her schedule on it. “Fine, I’ll see if I can take a few days off.”

“Whaaaaat?! It’s that easy? Since when?” Peridot jumped up from the couch and began poking at Zircon. “Have you been replaced with a pod person?!” 

“Stop that!” Zircon brushed Peridot’s hand away. “And what in the stars is a pod person?”

“I saw it in a movie! It’s a monster that captures you and hollows you out and tries to impersonate you, but it does a really bad job, so you have to ask it to tell you something the monster wouldn’t know.” Peridot looked Zircon in the eye very seriously. “What’s something only you would know about me?”

“Hmm. You once asked me to beta-read a _Special Vampire Unit_ fanfiction where a character that was clearly based on you entered into a romantic tryst with Zora. I assumed you chose Zora because she has blue hair.”

“That fanfiction turned out great! I even received three entire ‘kudos,’” said Peridot, beaming with pride. “Okay, I guess you’re not a pod person. You’re really going to take some time off?”

“It does so happen that I don’t have anything _that_ critical until next week, and Steven did recently remind me that I have built up seven months of vacation time. I’m not entirely sure how that works or how it’s being counted.” Zircon was busily rearranging things in her schedule. “Actually, I’m starting to suspect he’s making it up and just adds a week to the total every time he believes I’m overstressed.”

“You’d probably have more than seven months, then.”

“...I suppose. And… done. So what did you have in mind?”

Peridot perched on Zircon’s desk. “I wasn’t thinking ahead that far! I assumed it’d take at least a half-hour to convince you.”

“It’s possible that Earth madness is making me a soft touch,” said Zircon. “Or perhaps I’ve just decided that if wasting time is inevitable, I may as well do it efficiently.”

“I like that philosophy!” said Peridot.

* * *

“Okay, so we should start a tea date with Jessie and give her green tea with lemon. That’ll give her a buff to plant magic in the next battle.”

Zircon frowned. “I thought we decided we weren’t taking Jessie into the next battle because we’d have too many mages. Remember?” She looked over at Peridot, who was staring at the screen with a spaced-out look on her face. “Peri, are you okay?”

“Huh?” said Peridot, snapping out of it. “Yeah, I’m fine. What were we talking about?”

“That’s the third time you’ve completely zoned out while trying to figure out strategy. Don’t you think we should take a break? We have been playing for…” She quickly checked the time in her glasses. “Oh stars, it’s been forty three hours. And half of the map is still covered in fog! How long is this game, anyway?”

“You know that’s only the first map, right? Once we unlock the airship there’s a whole _new_ map --”

“Of course there is. Why do I let you get me far too involved in these silly timesinks, anyway?” Zircon pinched the bridge of her nose. “Anyway, let’s get to a save point and take a break.”

Peridot’s eyes were glassy as she held the controller loosely.

“...Peri, are you actually okay?”

“I’m fine, Lapis! Zircs. I mean.” Peridot shook her head as if to clear it. “I’m just having a hard time focusing.”

Alarm bubbled up in Zircon’s chest. “Oh stars, you’re actually _not_ okay, are you? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know!” said Peridot, with mild frustration. “I was fine, I was having fun with the game, and now it’s everything’s uncomfortable and too warm and I can’t concentrate on anything. It’s almost like -- wait a minute…” She touched the gemstone on her forehead, eyes going wide. “It’s hot. Do you think…”

“Oh, no, you think it’s gem fever?”

“Where would I have gotten gem fever?!”

“From anyone! Any of the Homeworld Gems who go to your horticulture classes, maybe?” The main problem with gem fever was that it was highly contagious before Gems realized they had it, which meant it always spread all over Homeworld and most of the colonies before anything could be done about it. 

Peridot frowned. “I hadn’t heard anything about gem fever going around.”

“That’s true. Usually when this happens, all of my trials get postponed. I suppose I haven’t checked my work messages in a while, though.” Zircon pulled them up in her glasses. “Oh. Well.”

“What is it?”

“It came in a couple of hours ago -- all trials pushed out two weeks due to a gem fever outbreak in Homeworld.” She turned off her glasses. “Guess that explains that.”

“This is terrible!” Peridot curled up into an anxious ball. “I had so many things that needed to get done --”

“Real things or video game things?”

“--and now I’m going to be miserable from gem fever for _days_. And oh, stars, I’ve probably given it to you, too!”

“Considering we’ve been sitting on the couch next to each other for hours, that seems quite likely, yes.”

“I’m sorry, Zircs.”

“Don’t be. I’ve literally never escaped one of these pandemics. I wouldn’t expect to start now.”

“Really, never? Sometimes I was working kindergartens that were remote enough that I didn’t even know there had been gem fever until it was all over.”

Zircon took off her glasses to clean them on her coat. “The Zircon office is in the middle of Homeworld’s capital, full of particularly fragile Gems, and hosts visitors from all over. Gem fever melted us like magma through a forest.” She reflected on the fact that at least she wouldn’t be spending this pandemic in a tower tightly packed with other miserable, hallucinating Zircons.

“Yikes,” said Peridot. “At least we don’t have to work through this one, right?”

“They made you work through gem fever?”

“50% quota. Really, it was mostly just an excuse to force us to rush to make it up afterwards.”

“It seems like a bad idea to have Peridots working on things like kindergarten maintenance and spaceship repair while barely lucid.”

“Oh, it was,” Peridot agreed. “One time I hallucinated that all of the kindergarten exit holes were giant mouths trying to eat me.” Mildly distressed by this memory, she quickly moved on. “How about you? Did they make you work?”

“They tried a few times, but we _are_ very fragile. I think they got tired of pulling fainted Zircons out of the courtroom.” She pulled up a screen containing an incredibly elaborate chart filled with boxes and arrows. “Last time they tried to make us work, I spent several hours making this while totally out of my mind.”

She handed the chart to Peridot, who looked at it in confusion. “What _is_ this?”

“Oh, I have no idea! It’s complete nonsense. Apparently, I presented it before the Diamonds with great conviction before collapsing.” She took the screen away, then gently pulled the controller from Peridot’s hands. “Here, why don’t we suspend the game?”

“What? No! We were just about to make it to the frost cavern!” Peridot protested.

“You need rest, Peri! The fever’s going to get worse before it gets better.”

“Ugh, fine,” she said, crossing her arms petulantly.

“You must really be sick if you agreed that quickly,” said Zircon, as Peridot curled up tightly with a pained look on her face. She looked at the hammock where Peridot usually slept, unsure about her ability to hoist her friend into it. “Did you want to try to get in the hammock?”

“No, here’s fine,” she mumbled.

“Do you want your pillow and blanket?”

“Yes, please.”

Zircon got up and fetched a pillow, several soft blankets, and what appeared to be a stuffed VHS tape from the hammock. She handed the bundle to Peridot, who uncurled just enough to clutch the toy close and roll herself up in the blankets. “There. Are you comfortable?”

“Tell me a story!”

“What?”

“Tell me a story!”

“Are you serious?”

“I don’t want to have awful fever dreams. I need a comforting story to go to sleep.” 

“A _comforting_ story? From me? Peri, you’re not so feverish that you don’t remember who I am, are you?”

“You can be comforting when you put your mind to it,” said Peridot, looking up at Zircon pleadingly from her blanket cocoon.

“Fine,” Zircon relented, sitting back down on the couch. Immediately, Peridot wriggled around so that she was cuddled up against her. “Hey! What is this?”

“Lapis isn’t here and my gemstone hurts,” she said, with her very best sad voice and eyes.

“Shouldn’t we text Lapis? Let her know what’s going on? Maybe she could come home early.”

“That’d be awesome, but she’s supposed to have her phone off all weekend. Something about aesthetics and focus and nature,” said Peridot. “I’ve got an emergency contact but this is probably not a _real_ emergency.”

“I suppose it isn’t, no,” said Zircon. Gem fever made for some very unpleasant days, but it rarely caused any permanent harm. As much as she dreaded being holed up in her office, feverish and hallucinating, there wasn’t any real _danger._

“You can go if you want. I’ll be fine,” said Peridot, sadly.

Zircon sighed, resigned. She could certainly understand why Peridot didn’t want to be left alone. “I thought you wanted a comforting story. I wouldn’t expect much, though.”

“That’s okay!” Peridot, pleased with herself, wrapped the blanket around her tighter.

Zircon thought about it. She really wasn’t built for creativity. But if it was supposed to be comforting, it didn’t really need to be creative, did it? “Once upon a time, there was… a Peridot and a Zircon playing a video game together.”

“That’s a real stretch,” said Peridot, sarcastically.

“Hush, beggars can’t be choosers. They made it to the frost cavern, where they fought many enemies, most of which were simply ice-themed versions of enemies from previous dungeons. At the end of the dungeon was an enormous, sparkling chest.”

“Ooh, what’s in the chest?”

“Um. A sword. A rare sword. A very rare and powerful ice sword with a plus five modifier to strength.”

“Yesss,” said Peridot, softly. “This story’s pretty good after all.”

“They equipped the sword on the protagonist, Ace, because he is the character best suited for wielding a sword, and went to defeat the optional secret boss and unlock the true ending.”

Peridot closed her eyes and smiled. “Yay, us.”

“And then the Zircon said to the Peridot, ‘You have gem fever and should probably get some sleep.’”

“Hey, you can’t make the story meta,” Peridot muttered, barely cracking her eyes open.

“It’s too late, Peri, I already have! And then the Peridot said to the Zircon, ‘Yes, getting rest is a very good idea.’”

“Yeah, I guess,” said Peridot, closing her eyes again.

“So the Peridot went to sleep and did _not_ have terrifying fever dreams. She dreamed about very nice things that she likes, like tending to her greenhouse, and watching _Camp Pining Hearts,_ and building complicated machines that always work on the first time and never explode.”

“Mmm…”

“Finally, the Peridot’s favorite Lapis Lazuli came home from her morp retreat with lots of abstract and confusing morps in tow. She gave Peri a big hug and was much better at comforting the Peridot than the Zircon who had no idea how to tell a story. The end.” She looked down at Peridot, whose head was slumped to the side. “Peri? Are you actually asleep or are you just pretending?”

No response.

She picked up the controller. “It’s a good time to erase the save files so we can start over and make more optimal choices, right?”

No response. 

She _could_ just attempt to shift Peridot off of her, but that seemed a shame if she had actually gone to sleep peacefully. “I guess this is my life now,” said Zircon, pulling out her phone. She should probably let the others know what was happening, if they didn’t already.

**SpackChat**

**Room** : WE . . . . are the crystal gems!

 **Topic:** Dogcopter Legacy spoilers

 **CourtLawyerZircon** has changed the topic to “Just so you’re aware, there is a gem fever outbreak in Homeworld.”

 **CourtLawyerZircon:** The topic change is self-explanatory, I believe.

 **RenegadePearl:** Gem fever? I haven’t thought about that in thousands of years.

 **RenegadePearl:** How inconvenient. I had plans for this weekend. Given how many Homeworld Gems are in my classes, I’m sure I already have it.

 **made-of-love:** i might need to unfuse so sapphire can make ice

 **RenegadePearl:** Ooh, great idea, Garnet!

 **CourtLawyerZircon:** Ice? Does that help?

 **RenegadePearl:** Well, yes? It cools your gemstone down, obviously.

 **RenegadePearl:** Didn’t you use ice? 

**CourtLawyerZircon:** Where did you even get ice on Homeworld?

 **RenegadePearl:** From Sapphires and other Gems capable of producing it. If you didn’t have ice, what did you do for gem fever?

 **CourtLawyerZircon:** Suffer?

 **A:** hey yo not to break up homeworld trauma chat but whats gem fever

 **RenegadePearl:** It’s a highly contagious condition. It only lasts a few days, but while you have it, it heats your gemstone up to unbearable temperatures and causes many unpleasant symptoms.

 **A:** oh

 **A:** uh

 **A:** i was wonderin why i felt like i was left in a sauna too long

 **A:** is that gem fever

 **RenegadePearl:** Amethyst! You had gem fever and didn’t say anything?

 **A:** did you miss the part where i just now heard what it is

 **CourtLawyerZircon:** How have you never had gem fever before?

 **A:** never left earth z

 **CourtLawyerZircon:** Oh, right, yes, I suppose that would do it.

 **Steven!:** Guys, can I get gem fever?

 **RenegadePearl:** Oh dear, I don’t see why not. You do have a gemstone, after all.

 **Steven!:** That sounds bad. You can’t die from it can you?

 **laughysapphy:** You’ll be fine, Steven

 **laughysapphy:** Well, you’ll be uncomfortable, but you’ll eventually be fine

 **Steven!:** Hi Sapphire! Also, how uncomfortable?

 **cutieruby:** ITLL BE OKAY SAPPHS MAKING ICE

 **Steven!:** Good?

 **MorphWitchConnie:** If it just affects gemstones, then humans can’t get it, right?

 **RenegadePearl:** I don’t see how that would be possible, no.

 **MorphWitchConnie:** Then I can help take care of you, Steven!

 **MorphWitchConnie:** By the way, what about the rest of the Little Homeworlders? Apart from you, Zircs. None of them have been in this chat.

 **CourtLawyerZircon:** Lapis has been at a morp retreat.

 **CourtLawyerZircon:** I haven’t heard from Bismuth. Someone should go check on her.

 **CourtLawyerZircon:** And I believe that I neglected to mention that Peridot has it. That’s why she’s currently asleep. Partially on top of me.

 **Steven!:** Aw, poor Peri. :(

 **MorphWitchConnie:** Maybe I could help out distributing ice or something!

 **A:** doesnt p-dot have that ice machine

 **A:** the one she used for summer fest

 **CourtLawyerZircon:** I’m in her lair. I could look for one.

 **RenegadePearl:** Since you’re already in Little Homeworld, could you also check on Bismuth?

 **CourtLawyerZircon:** It appears that I’m unable to leave this spot, as moving Peridot has proved fruitless.

 **RenegadePearl:** What do you mean by that?

 **CourtLawyerZircon:** When I tried to move her, she hissed at me.

 **laughysapphy:** Congratulations on your second cat

 **RenegadePearl:** Oh, for stars’ sake. I’ll go find the ice machine and check on Bismuth.

 **MorphWitchConnie:** Couldn’t I do it, since I’m probably immune to gem fever?

 **RenegadePearl:** It’s fine, Connie, I’m sure I already have it. Besides, we may need some help later when we’re all indisposed.

 **MorphWitchConnie:** Got it! Let me know!

* * *

Pearl stopped in front of the keypad, bracing herself for entering Peridot’s lair, something she normally avoided as much as possible. It was so unapologetically disorganized and cluttered, filled with engineering projects that Pearl understood just well enough to be disturbed by the implications, and Peridot never _listened_ to her when she tried to raise objections, and her friends were rarely any help when it came to reining her in…

And if it wasn’t Peridot in the lair, it was Lapis Lazuli, who still didn’t much care for Pearl for reasons that she certainly understood. 

Right now, though, she would be likely dealing with Zircon, the Gem she had once mistakenly assumed would be adding a voice of reason to the Crystal Gems, before Peridot had sucked her into her schemes like a black hole.

There was no use delaying it. She punched her code into the keypad and entered.

The lair was dark except for the couch by the TV, where Zircon was sitting, reading something on her phone. Peridot was next to her, wrapped in blankets and sleeping. “Hello, Pearl,” she said, quietly.

“Hello, Zircon,” said Pearl. “Do you have any idea where this ice machine might be?”

Zircon shrugged and shook her head. So much for any help.

Pearl had no choice but to try and look through the many machines littering the lair, which was as disturbingly messy as it always was. She cringed and fought down her impulse to give the entire place a good cleaning like it sorely needed. She didn’t understand how Zircon could sit there like nothing was wrong when her own office was neat as a pin. Well, apart from the cat.

The ice machine was likely finished, so it would probably be found stored on a shelf instead of on one of the workbenches -- not that Peridot was even so organized as that. She glanced over the shelves, trying to ignore the experimental blast cannons and formidable looking security drones. Was that a portable warp pad? If Peridot wasn’t careful with that, she could easily cause an implosion and --

Focus.

On a high shelf, she spotted a machine with a coolant unit and a hole on the side with a short metal chute. That was easily the most likely candidate for the ice machine, except for one problem -- the large amount of unlabeled buttons on it. Pearl pulled it down and looked at it, frowning. It wasn’t connected to any kind of water source, either.

“I’m going to have to wake Peridot to ask her about this.”

Zircon looked alarmed, but then, when didn’t she? “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“Oh, honestly, she’ll be fine. She’ll feel better once we get ice for her gemstone, anyway.” Pearl walked over and gently shook Peridot. “Peridot, wake up.”

Peridot hissed loudly, causing Pearl to yelp and jump back, startled. 

Zircon covered her mouth, laughing. “I did try to warn you.”

The sudden noise caused Peridot to open her eyes. Disoriented, she screamed and fell off the couch, tangled in blankets, landing right on her face, and therefore on her gemstone. “Ow!” she cried out pitifully. “What’s going on?! What’s happening?”

“Peridot, it’s just me!” said Pearl.

Peridot rolled over and blinked slowly. “Pearl? What are you doing here?”

Pearl kneeled down so she was closer to Peridot’s eye level. “I’m trying to figure out how to work your ice machine.”

“Ice?” Peridot’s face scrunched up in confusion. “That was for selling lemonade to humans. You’re not a human.”

“It’s for your gemstone, to cool it down,” said Pearl. “They didn’t give you ice for gem fever either, did they?”

“No? Where did you even get ice?”

Pearl had been given all the ice she needed courtesy of Pink and her court. Later, during the rebellion, Gems like Sapphire and Little Larimar had provided for everyone. And of course, when the Crystal Gems had been reduced to a handful of Gems isolated on Earth, gem fever hadn’t been a concern at all.

“Never mind. Can you show me how to work your ice machine?”

“Okay,” said Peridot, getting to her feet with obvious difficulty, and looking very unsteady, holding onto the couch for support. Pearl picked up the ice machine and brought it over to her. 

“Oh, yes, it’s very simple.” Peridot quickly jabbed at some of the buttons. “You just press here and here to start the coolant… thing… and then this thing for shaved or cubed and then the green button.” With a loud clicking sound, the ice machine suddenly began to spew ice cubes all over the floor. “Whoops,” said Peridot, looking blearily at the rapidly growing pile of ice.

“Peridot, how do you turn it off?!”

“Oh, uh, this red button,” she said, pushing it.

“Okay,” said Pearl, regaining her composure. She wanted to ask Peridot how it was producing ice with no visible source of water, but she was probably not in a state conducive to explaining. “I think I have all of that. Do you have any buckets to store the ice in? Or any receptacles we could use for ice packs?”

“There are buckets in the corner near Lapis’ morp supplies,” said Peridot, looking as if the effort of thinking about it was causing her significant distress. “And, uh, ice packs? I have a lot of little bags for storing parts in. Hold on.”

Peridot walked over to one of the shelves, pulled out a large bin, and began rummaging around in it. She leaned in a little too far, falling in with a surprised yelp. 

Zircon pulled her out and attempted to right her on her feet, causing a dizzy Peridot to fall backwards on her butt. “Let me look for it, Peri. Small bags, correct?”

Meanwhile, Pearl had located the buckets. Recalling what Peridot had just showed her, she began filling them with ice cubes. She cleaned the ice cubes off the floor and put them in a bucket as well. 

Zircon had somehow located a few boxes’ worth of small plastic bags in the disastrous-looking bin of odds and ends. She filled one of the bags with ice, and went to hand it to Peridot, who had flopped over onto the ground and was lying there in a daze. “Here, see if this helps,” she said, placing the impromptu ice pack on Peridot’s forehead.

Peridot’s eyes flew open. She looked as if she were about to melt in sheer relief. “Oh my stars, that’s amazing! You’re a lifesaver, Zircs.”

“It was Pearl’s idea, remember?”

“Oh, yes. You really are smart sometimes, Pearl,” said Peridot.

“Sometimes?” said Pearl, raising an eyebrow.

“The important thing is that we have ice packs now!” said Zircon quickly, clapping her hands together.

“Right,” said Pearl. “I’m headed to Bismuth’s. I’ll take these buckets with me to distribute around Little Homeworld, but I’ll leave this one for you two, okay?”

“That makes sense. Peri?” Zircon looked down to where Peridot was lying on the ground, already half asleep. Zircon sighed. “Say, Pearl? Do you think you could help me get her into the hammock?”

“Oh, I suppose.” 

“Hm, wha?” Peridot barely stirred as the two Gems clumsily hoisted her into her hammock. Zircon fetched the blankets, pillow and stuffed toy from the couch, and Peridot immediately wrapped herself up again, closing her eyes and sighing in contentment as the ice pack was placed back on her gemstone.

“G’night, Lapis,” Peridot mumbled.

“Lapis?” asked Pearl in amusement.

“Shh, she’ll sleep better if she thinks Lapis is here. Anyway, it’s for the best you disturbed Peridot. Now I can get home and feed my cat.”

“Right. You should probably take some of the ice.”

“Yes, good plan!” Zircon dumped some ice from a bucket into a smaller container and picked up some of the plastic bags. “Good luck with, um… the inevitable gem fever?”

“You too,” said Pearl, as Zircon exited the lair. 

Seriously, how did these two even make it through gem fever without ice? Pearl didn’t really want to think about how unpleasant that must have been.

* * *

The square seemed quieter than it should have been at this time of day. Before leaving for Little Homeworld, Pearl had made sure the gem fever warning made it to all the official channels. She had helped a somewhat loopy Amethyst get the word out to her students, while Sapphire filled the main room of the beach house with ice and Ruby made sure all of her, Sapphire, and Garnet’s classes and appointments were cancelled.

Bismuth’s forge was dark, the door closed. Pearl knocked, and receiving no answer, walked in. “Bis?”

Bismuth was laying on one of the stone benches near the back of the forge. She sat up, clearly not all together. “Pearl? Is it time for class? I just meant to rest my eyes for a few minutes. What time is it?”

“It’s okay, Bis,” said Pearl, setting down the bucket of ice and sitting next to her. “Classes are cancelled. It’s a gem fever outbreak.”

“Gem fever? Oh, slag, is that what this is?” said Bismuth, suddenly alarmed. “Then you shouldn’t be here, Pearl. You’ll catch it from me.”

“Oh, please, Amethyst already came home with it. Besides, I’d rather catch it from being with you than from wrangling Peridot.”

“Peri has it?” Bismuth laughed. “I bet she’s a real handful when sick.”

“You can certainly say that. Anyway, I brought ice packs.” She offered one to Bismuth.

“Ice packs? I knew there was a reason you’re my favorite, Pearl,” said Bismuth, taking the small bag of ice and placing it inside her gemstone. “Ah, that’s good. Thanks.”

“You can come back to the house, if you want. Sapphire’s going to be freezing the room like she used to.”

“Remember the gem fever outbreaks during the Rebellion?”

“Oh, I _do,”_ said Pearl, grinning devilishly. The Homeworld armies were always the first to get it, giving the Rebellion an opportunity to gain ground that they weren’t too proud to take. They could also take the advance warning to prepare their own troops and camps for the inevitable outbreak among their own Gems.

“I might take you up on that offer,” said Bismuth. “Or if you wanted to, you could ride it out here. Just the two of us.”

“It _is_ nice and cool in here with the lava flow turned off, and we _do_ have plenty of ice,” said Pearl, considering, snuggling up closer to Bismuth. “I am a little worried about Steven, though. He’s never had gem fever.”

“He’s a tough kid. He should be fine, right?” said Bismuth, in a tone that indicated she wasn’t entirely sure. 

“Sapphire thinks he will be, but who knows how gem fever might affect an organic body? I should probably be there, just in case.”

“We might not be a lot of use in a day or two, though,” Bismuth pointed out. “Shouldn’t we get a human to help him?”

“Yes, I did speak to Greg about it, and he said he'll stay with Steven until he recovers. Connie also said she could help deliver ice and check up on everyone.”

“So don’t worry so much! It’s just a little gem fever.” Bismuth pulled Pearl closer, practically into her lap.

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe I will stay,” said Pearl, smiling. “I will say, this isn’t a good substitute for the date you were going to take me on.”

“Oh, that’s still on. It’s just gonna be postponed. Something to look forward to once we’re both better.” She grinned, but looked tired.

“You should get some rest, Bis,” said Pearl, running her hand along her cheek. “I’m going to go distribute some ice. I’ve got to talk to Larimar, too. I’ll be back, though.” 

She kissed Bismuth gently, pulling away.

“Now, Pearl, you can’t leave it like that. Especially since you already know you’ve caught gem fever,” said Bismuth, giving Pearl a much deeper kiss. Pearl wrapped her arms around Bismuth’s shoulders and leaned into it for a few minutes before breaking it off again.

“I’m not worried about catching gem fever. I’m worried that if we start doing that, I won’t want to leave. And I really should take care of a few things before I settle in.”

“Alright, alright,” said Bismuth, letting her go. “Take care of your things. I’ll be waiting.”

* * *

She was floating.

She wasn’t sure if she was awake or asleep. Some part of her could feel the hammock below her, see the familiar surroundings of her home. Another part of her felt far away, floating in the air, disconnected from everything.

Her gemstone was cold, so cold that her thoughts felt slow and halting. She was somewhat aware that that was a good thing. The alternative was worse, even as she struggled to remember what that alternative was. She could just grasp a memory of levitating a bucket, with great effort, to get more ice to cool her burning gem.

She wished Lapis were here.

She was supposed to be trying to think pleasant thoughts.

She dreamed she was on the beach next to Lapis, the warm waves washing over them both. “I wish you were here,” she said, which was a weird thing to say when Lapis was next to her.

“I will be.”

“What if something’s happened to you?”

“You worry too much.”

“Someone should worry about you. You’re worth worrying about.”

“I’ll be fine. I’ll be coming home soon,” said Lapis, gently running her hands through Peridot’s hair. 

Peridot looked up at Lapis, her smiling face surrounded by sunbeams. She was so close but still so far away. She was floating again, sinking away from Lapis, sinking into the cold.

“Peri?”

Peridot struggled to open her eyes. Her eyelids felt impossibly heavy. Her gemstone was uncomfortably cold. Lapis, perched on the side of the hammock, was looking at her with concern.

“Are you really here?”

“Yeah, I’m here. Back from the morp retreat. I saw the notices about gem fever.” She placed her hand on Peridot’s cheek. “Sorry I wasn’t here sooner.”

“You shouldn’t be here,” said Peridot, shaking her head. “You’re going to catch it too.”

“I know. I couldn’t just leave you alone, though. You’re just going to have to take care of me in a couple of days, okay?”

Peridot was in no position to argue, especially since she was so happy to see Lapis. “Okay, then,” she said, smiling, leaning into Lapis’ hand.

“Looks like you’ve got enough ice. What can I do to help?”

“Hold me. I missed you.” Peridot was aware she probably sounded needy. She didn’t really care.

“Of course,” said Lapis. She sat on one end of the hammock, pulling the blanket-cocooned Peridot into her lap and snuggling her gently, taking care to not disturb the ice pack on her gemstone. 

Peridot let out a contented sigh. She didn’t feel _good,_ exactly, not with her gemstone completely out of whack and her form feeling like it didn’t even belong to her, but with her gem cooled and Lapis holding her close, she at least felt safe and taken care of. “Yes, this is what I wanted,” said Peridot. “I dreamed about this.”

“Did you?” said Lapis, fondly, playing with Peridot’s hair.

“I did! I also dreamed that I was being chased down by the Diamonds, who all had jetpacks and were blasting me with ears of corn from their mouths, but that was just because I let the ice melt and my gem was way too hot.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t sound very good,” said Lapis. “Good thing you’ve got plenty of ice. How is everyone else?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t been checking my phone much. I tried, but it was way too hard to concentrate. I’m sure I gave it to Zircs, since we were playing video games together. I hope she’s okay. And I read that Bis and Ames had it.”

“I’m sure they’ll be fine. They’re tough. Well, not so much Zircs. She has ice, right?”

“Probably? I remember showing Pearl how to use that ice machine. I didn’t even know ice was a _thing._ ” 

“What do you mean?”

“They never gave Peridots ice! They made us work through it.”

“Really, they made you _work_ while you had gem fever? They never made us work. They just put the terraforming projects on hold and had the Larimars fill our rooms with ice. Having to work sounds awful.”

“Yeah, Homeworld was awful. You’re not surprised, are you?”

“Good thing you have a Lapis to take care of you now.” She snuggled into Peridot’s hair.

“Much better,” Peridot agreed. “We’ll have to make sure to fill the lair with ice for you.”

“We probably don’t need to do that,” said Lapis. “I trust your expert care.”

“Wow, I hope I can live up to that responsibility. I really, really don’t want you to have nightmares.” She looked over at her workbenches. “You know, maybe I should try to increase the efficiency of my ice maker before you come down with fever. I could probably freeze the whole room, or maybe make a tent around the hammock --”

“No, no,” said Lapis, tightening her grip on Peridot. “You’re not going anywhere. Didn’t we just establish that working while feverish sucks?”

“But Lapis --”

“No buts! I’m taking care of you now. You need to ice your gem and rest. You can work on your ice maker when you’re feeling better. I’m sure I’ll be fine with just regular ice packs.”

“But what if it’s not enough, and you get bad dreams, and --”

“Shhh,” said Lapis, whispering into Peridot’s ear. “You need to rest. I’ll be fine. Let me take care of things.” She used her water wing to gently rock the hammock from side to side while running her hand through Peridot’s hair.

Peridot blinked slowly, her face growing slack. “Are you sure?”

“I’m very sure. Trust me. Close your eyes and try to sleep, okay? I’ll be here.”

“Tell me a comforting story?” said Peridot, who was rapidly losing her battle to stay awake.

“Okay, sure. I’m not sure I’m very good at that, though,” said Lapis. “Once upon a time there was a Peridot who was loved very much.”

Peridot closed her eyes and settled in. “Am I the Peridot?”

“Nope, totally different Peridot.” 

Peridot’s eyes flew open. “What?”

“I’m kidding! Of course it’s you. Maybe I shouldn’t be teasing you while I’m trying to get you to sleep.” 

“You could let me get up and work on my ice maker instead.”

“Not happening. I’ll just have to be extra comforting.” Lapis resumed playing with Peridot’s hair. “Once upon a time there was a Peridot who was loved very much who was _definitely you.”_

“That’s better,” said Peridot, smiling and closing her eyes.

“She was really smart and good at building things. But she was also really tired and needed to take a nap.”

“Hey, that’s meta.”

“So what? The Peridot decided that the best way to take a nap was to snuggle up with a Lapis Lazuli.”

“The Lapis was also loved very much,” said Peridot, stubbornly.

“I know,” she said, tousling Peridot’s hair. “They went to sleep and had really nice dreams. Dreams about… flying. Flying over the ocean, feeling the cool breeze against your face, smelling the fresh salty air…”

Peridot made a small, contented sound.

“Flying over green trees, and rolling hills, and through human cities filled with tall buildings and lights.” Lapis yawned. The morp retreat had been very busy, and she was pretty tired herself. “Flying all the way back home where they could curl up and sleep. The end. Good night, Peridot.”

“G’night, Lapis,” she mumbled.

Lapis pulled a blanket up over them both and went to sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time on Gem Fever: More Lapidot! Connverse! Rupphire, probably! More scenes of Gems cuddling other Gems!
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	2. Checking In

Connie always loved arriving in Little Homeworld. The main throughways were guaranteed to be filled with the bright colors and friendly chatter of dozens of Gems going about their day. Even if she didn’t have a purpose in mind, it was usually only a matter of minutes before she was waved over into some kind of ongoing activity or class, or just stopped by a friend wanting to catch up. This was why she spent as much time in Little Homeworld as she could manage -- generally less time than she wanted and significantly more than her mother would prefer.

Riding Lion into the square and finding it nearly quiet and empty was surreal, almost apocalyptic. An ice machine had been set up in the middle of town, just as Pearl had mentioned in the group chat. It was surrounded by stacks of buckets, some of which were tipped over and scattered, and bins of what seemed to be small bags, presumably for making convenient ice packs. Stray bags were littered around the ordinarily very neat square, even cluttering the fountain. The only Gems in sight were a handful sprawled across benches, looking miserable and clutching large ice packs to their gemstones, and a Kyanite wandering around aimlessly near the ice machine. She stared at Connie as she approached on Lion, her eyes enormous.

“Whoaaaaa… what is that?” 

“This is Lion. Don’t worry, he won’t hurt you,” said Connie, in the friendliest voice she could manage. 

“Lion…” said the Kyanite, totally out of it. She was a dusty blue Gem with a puffy white blouse and a gray skirt, only a little taller than Connie. Kyanites were the Gem equivalent of city planners and architects -- considered one and the same in the Gempire -- and they were usually decidedly more put together than this one was.

Connie dismounted Lion. “Are you okay? Do you need some ice?”

The Kyanite’s face lit up in recognition. “I… think so? I need ice, but I can’t find it. I don’t understand this colony’s layout.”

“Here.” Connie walked over to the ice machine -- only a few feet behind them -- grabbed one of the little bags, and made an ice pack, which she handed to the Kyanite.

The Kyanite used one hand to hold the ice pack to the gemstone on her elbow, then grinned widely. “Oh, stars! That’s so much better.” She smiled at Connie, then jumped back, startled. “Oh! You’re an organic! I didn’t realize. Not that that’s a problem. You’ve been very nice!”

“It’s okay,” said Connie. “I get that kind of thing a lot. Are you new here?”

“I just got here a couple weeks ago, and bam! Gem fever! Some luck, right?”

“Do you have any place you can get some rest, or anyone to look after you?”

“Uhhhh…” The Kyanite’s face scrunched up in concentration. She laughed nervously. “Is it bad that I don’t remember where I live…?”

“Well, was it the office tower?” Connie gently turned the Kyanite around so she was looking at the most likely place for an administrative-type Gem to live.

“That’s it! How did you know?”

“It was an educated guess,” said Connie. “But do you know which office --”

The Kyanite had already run off. Connie briefly considered following her, but she already had a list of Gems to check up on. Seeing the general state of Little Homeworld, she couldn’t help but be concerned about her friends. Back at the beach house, Sapphire had told her that this kind of fever outbreak happened on a semi-regular basis and was more annoying than dangerous, but it was hard not to worry, especially when she thought about how uncomfortable Steven had been.

Her eyes swept over the ice machine and the buckets. She hadn’t really thought this through. It was going to be difficult to carry large buckets of ice around the town, and Lion had already wandered off somewhere.

“Hey, Connie,” said a tired voice behind her.

“Bis! Hi! How are you doing?”

“Not so bad, considering,” said Bismuth, shoulders slumped over. She moved to the ice machine and started filling a bag.

“How’s the fever? Is it bad?”

Bismuth shrugged. “Eh, I’m lucky. I’m built to withstand heat, y’know.” She stuck the ice pack right into the hollow of her gemstone. “What are you doing here, anyway? Not that I mind seeing you, but you know everything’s been cancelled, right?”

“I was worried, so I thought I’d help out by checking on the Crystal Gems and delivering ice,” she explained.

“You’re a real good friend, Connie,” said Bismuth, approvingly. 

“Pearl’s with you, right? How’s she doing?”

“Well… she’s been having a rough time. She’ll be fine, though! I’m making sure she’s taken care of. That’s the only reason I dragged myself out here to get ice.”

“Oh. So Pearl’s pretty sick, then?”

“It usually hits the intellectual types the worst. But she is, y’know --” Bismuth gestured to her forehead.

“Her gem?” said Connie, confused.

“No, I mean, she has a forehead gem. You know what they say about forehead gems.”

“No, I don’t.”

Bismuth looked confused, and then laughed. “Oh, right, you’re human! You wouldn’t know about that sort of thing.”

Connie shook her head, wondering if Bismuth was really okay after all.

“Gem placement affects your personality. Peridot would probably tell you it’s superstition, but I think it holds true more often than not.”

“Oh. So what does a forehead gem mean?”

“Forehead gems are all up their own heads. Smart, but maybe a little too much for their own good.”

“Hmm… okay,” said Connie. That did fit Pearl, although it didn’t seem polite to say so. “What about yours?”

“Right here? Big feelings, and all the pros and cons that come with that,” said Bismuth. She finished filling a bucket of ice. “Are you gonna be okay delivering ice by yourself?”

“Oh, uh… I don’t want to bother you. You and Pearl should get some rest.”

“I’ve got a little wagon if that would help you out.”

“Oh, that’s a great idea! May I borrow it?”

“Of course!” Bismuth picked up the bucket of ice and began walking the short distance to her forge. “Let’s get moving. I don’t want Pearl to run out of ice.”

“What would happen if you ran out of ice?” Connie asked, following.

“Oh, nightmares, hallucinations, delusions. All sorts of fun stuff.”

“Has that ever happened to you?”

“Oh yeah.” Bismuth laughed. “You don’t even want to know.”

“Yes, I do!”

“No, you don’t!”

“I’m going to ask Pearl. I bet she knows.” Connie grinned as Bismuth fake-glared at her. 

The ice bucket spilled as Bismuth tripped over a loose rock in the square. “Ah, slag,” she swore.

“Here, let me help,” Connie said, gathering ice off the ground and depositing it back in the bucket. She was used to training with Bismuth, and knew how surprisingly agile and quick she could be despite her formidable frame -- but there was no trace of that now. Connie had all of the ice back in the bucket before Bismuth even had a chance to kneel down and scoop it up. “Do you want me to carry the bucket?”

“No, I’ve got it. I may have gem fever but I’m not dead yet.”

They reached the forge, where the door was shut and the lights off. Bismuth pushed open the door. “Hey, Pearl. I’m back, and look who I found.”

Connie could hear Pearl groan loudly. “Unless this visitor’s made of ice, can they come back later?”

“It’s just me! Sorry, I don’t want to intrude,” Connie called.

“Oh, is that you, Connie? Never mind, you can come in.”

Connie stepped into the forge. She wasn’t sure she had ever seen it with all of the lava flows turned off. Much like the square outside, the usually cheerful location had turned cold and foreboding. Pearl was on one of the stone benches, sitting up with what looked like considerable difficulty, holding a partially melted ice pack to the gem on her forehead.

“Hi, ma’am. How are you doing?”

“Oh, you know, I’ve been better. Nothing to worry about, though! These things never last that long.” Pearl managed a forced smile. “I see you got the message I sent.”

“Message…?”

“Yes, the text message I sent an hour ago, asking you if you could come help check on everyone.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I remember that.” Connie pulled out her phone and looked at her messages. 

Pearl squinted, then removed her ice pack and pulled her own phone out of her gemstone. “Oh, dear. I never actually sent it.”

Connie laughed nervously. That definitely wasn’t like Pearl. Nor was her glassy-eyed stare as she held the phone loosely in front of her.

“Pearl…”

“Oh! Connie, did you see my message?”

Connie glanced at Bismuth, who shrugged subtly. “Uh… yeah! That’s why I came.”

“Oh, good! You’re so helpful. Thank you.”

“No trouble at all, ma’am,” said Connie, pleased at the praise but still deeply worried about Pearl.

“How’s Steven? Is he doing okay?”

Connie had reluctantly left Steven in a fitful sleep, after failing to persuade him to allow her mother to take a look at him. Greg had been at his bedside from practically the moment he heard about the fever sweeping through the Gems. So far, Steven didn’t seem much worse than what you might expect with a normal human cold… but who could say what a Gem disease would do to an organic body? She wasn’t sure she wanted to worry Pearl with all of those details, though, when there probably wasn’t much she could do about it.

“Steven’s handling it okay. Greg is with him. I’m going to go back there later to make sure things are still fine, too.”

Pearl didn’t seem particularly comforted by this. “I don’t know about that. I think I should be there to help him.”

“Pearl, we talked about this,” said Bismuth. “You need to take care of yourself. Let the humans take care of Steven.”

“But --”

Bismuth gently took the melting ice pack from Pearl’s gem and replaced it with a fresh one. “Here, this’ll help you cool off.”

“Ahhhh,” said Pearl, closing her eyes with visible relief. “Thank you, Bis.”

“You don’t need to worry about Steven, ma’am,” said Connie, trying to be reassuring. “I’ll make sure he’s comfortable and safe. Promise!”

“I don’t doubt that,” said Pearl, smiling at Connie. She was sounding a little more herself now that she had a fresh ice pack. “I just hate sitting here feeling useless. Doesn’t it drive you crazy, Bis?”

“Hmmm… nope!” said Bismuth, flopping backwards onto one of the other benches lining the forge. “I work hard enough as it is. I don’t mind having an excuse to nap for a few days.”

Pearl sighed. “It figures. I wish I could be so relaxed.”

“Well, when Connie leaves, I can help with that.”

“Bis!” Pearl flushed blue.

“Anyway!” said an embarrassed Connie, quickly trying to change the subject, “Bis was telling me she did some ‘fun stuff’ when she had gem fever before, but she wouldn’t tell me what it was.”

“Oh, like the camp full of Citrines?” said Pearl, devilishly.

“Oh, no!” Bismuth sat up, laughing.

“You see, during the Rebellion, the Homeworld Gems would always get gem fever before us, so we would try to raid them as much as we could before we came down with it ourselves. One day, Bis and I, and a group of other rebels, stormed a camp of Citrines. They were all fairly incapacitated with fever and it went well -- until Bis here yells, ‘For the Rebellion!’ and starts poofing her own teammates.”

“She did?” said Connie.

“She had been doing all sorts of raids the past couple of days and already had caught gem fever. None of us realized it, though.”

“I don’t think my gem has ever been that hot,” Bismuth added. “Usually I don’t get it _that_ bad. I’m pretty sure I had no idea where I was or what I was doing -- I didn’t even remember it afterwards.”

Pearl and Bismuth laughed, and Connie joined in uneasily. Without ice, these Gems could easily be a danger to themselves and others. What happened if one of them mistook her for someone or something else? 

“So, um, can I have that wagon now?” said Connie, suddenly a little eager to leave.

“Oh, sure, it’s over in the corner there.” Bismuth pointed without getting up.

Connie removed a stack of flowerpots from the little cart. “Thank you! This is perfect for carrying ice buckets.”

“If you’re going to see Steven, tell him to keep ice on his gem,” said Pearl. “And to not do too much physical exertion, or to use his powers. He also shouldn’t draw his weapon or shapeshift. Oh, and he needs to eat! Don’t let him forget.”

“I won’t, ma’am,” said Connie. 

“What’s that food that’s healthy for humans? Do we have any of that?”

“Fruit? Vegetables?” Connie guessed.

“Yes, those! You should make sure he eats some of those.”

“Sure!” said Connie, deciding not to tell Pearl that when she had arrived earlier that day, Steven and Greg had been eating hot dogs.

When Connie finally managed to extricate herself from Pearl’s instructions for Steven, exiting the forge with her borrowed cart, her mind returned to what Bismuth had said about gem placement. She wondered where her gem would be. Would she just be another forehead Gem, way too much in her own head? That seemed probable.

* * *

The greenhouse was empty -- of Gems, anyway. As usual, it was filled with greenery of all sorts, and the smell of dirt and flowers filled Connie’s senses. She hoped all of the plants would be fine to leave alone for a few days. Peridot had taught her a few things, but not anywhere close to enough to feel confident tending even to the Earth plants.

A thick, leafy bush stirred, and a bright blue flower bulb, slightly larger than Connie’s hands, burst forth and ran towards Connie as fast as its stubby legs could take it.

“Percy!” she said, picking the little bulb up. Percy cooed and opened up her bulb, showing off her flower. “You must be pretty lonely without any Gems around, huh? They’ll be back soon!” Percy snuggled into her hands, and Connie cuddled her close.

She hated to put Percy down, but she was probably better off in the greenhouse with plenty of sun than potentially being stuck underground with feverish Gems -- especially since she didn’t know what condition Peridot and Lapis might be in. She chose an unfamiliar plant with huge, orange flowers and set Percy down in it. The bulb cooed sadly. “It’ll be okay, Percy. You’ll see. Now I have to go check on your moms, okay?”

Connie remembered when Peridot’s underground lair had been guarded only by a passcode that everyone in Little Homeworld knew. Now, she had to put in a much longer password, wait for a gem scan to fail, pass a retinal scan, and put in a two-factor authentication code on her phone before being let in. She was pretty sure there were other, invisible security measures, too -- and each time, she quietly hoped that none of those malfunctioned. There had been at least one case where Peridot had accidentally reversed her trusted and untrusted visitor lists and Zircon had ended up trapped in a block of foam in the corridor for several hours.

The lair was always on the disastrous side, filled to the brim with all of Peridot and Lapis’ projects, experiments, and hobbies. Given the depth and breadth of these, the result was a chaotic riot of Homeworld tech and Earth novelties. Half-finished avant garde art installations sat next to disassembled gadgetry that sat next to piles of DVDs and manga. It was all a bit much, but when Connie was in the mood for a bit much, there was no better place to be.

Today, however, the lair was noticeably more destroyed than usual. While the work tables were often piled high with parts and supplies, it wasn’t normal to see said parts strewn all over the floor. Lapis was laying face down in the hammock that stretched across the middle of the room, an enormous pile of ice on top of her back where her gemstone was, seemingly dead to the world. There were, inexplicably, stacks of cans surrounding her. In the back of the lair, there was an enormous, wobbly-looking object made of welded-together pieces and parts. A short green Gem stood in front of it, wearing a welding mask and wielding a torch.

Peridot turned to look at her visitor. “Connie!” she said, her voice rough. “I’m so glad you came! You have to see this!” Peridot ran up to her, nearly tripping over some of the detritus on the floor. The look in her eyes was distinctly not right, and she had a soggy plastic bag taped to her gemstone, the likely remnants of an ice pack.

“Uh, hi, Peri. Are you okay?”

“Oh, I’ve never been better,” said Peridot, in a terrifying tone of voice. “Look! Look at this! I improved my ice machine!” Before Connie could respond, Peridot ran to one of the work tables, wobbling like a drunken sailor, and grabbed a small box with a metal chute and a few large buttons. “Check this out!” Peridot pressed a green button and a stream of ice cubes shot from the box with enough force to knock her back into a shelf, which shook dangerously.

“Peridot!” said Connie, alarmed. She waded through the piles of junk and ice to where Peridot had fallen, pushing the red button on the device and mercifully turning it off. “Shouldn’t you be resting? And have ice on your gem?”

“No! No no no no no, you don’t understand. Look! I beat _Flame Symbol!_ ” Peridot gestured towards the TV. It was on, and displaying a Game Over screen with the _Flame Symbol_ party members lying dead.

“I… don’t think that’s…”

“But that’s not the important part!” said Peridot, with maniacal glee. “I’ve solved _everything._ ”

“Everything?”

“Everything!” Peridot spread her arms out dramatically, knocking a pile of books off a table. “Kindergartens! Era 3! Lapis’ nightmares! The Camp Pining Hearts reboot! _Everything!”_ She giggled maniacally and ran over to the bizarre metal sculpture she had been working on when Connie arrived. “This is it! This is the answer!”

“Peridot… I think maybe you’re hallucinating. You know, from the gem fever.”

“That’s what I thought too!” said Peridot, a dangerous gleam in her eye. “But then, the heat showed me _the truth._ The ice was only slowing me down! My gem isn’t feverish, it’s overclocked!”

Connie had seen enough. “Okay! Let’s get some ice on you.”

“No!” Peridot reacted as though Connie had suggested taking a hammer to her gem. “I almost have it! I’m so close. I can’t stop now!”

Connie filled an extra-large ice pack from her bucket. “Peri, you’re delirious. You’ll feel better if you use this ice pack.”

Peridot backed against the wall and pointed. “You! You’re with them! I thought you were my friend! I thought you’d understand!”

“I am your friend! I do understand! I’m just trying to help.”

“You’ll see!” Peridot grabbed a large switch lying on the floor. “Could someone hallucinating from gem fever do _this?”_ She pulled the switch dramatically. A few rainbow-colored LED lights on the metal sculpture began to flash. Some of the pieces fell off.

“Yes, actually.”

“I don’t understand.” Peridot, crestfallen, turned towards her creation and picked up one of the fallen parts. “The formulas must not be right. Maybe I should heat my gem up more and -- eep!”

Connie grabbed her from behind and pressed the ice pack onto her gem. “Sorry, Peri, this is for your own good.”

“No! Unhand me, you traitor!” Peridot thrashed weakly. Some of the nearby metal objects rattled dangerously, and Connie braced herself for dealing with Peridot’s ferrokinesis. Thankfully, it seemed like her feverish state was preventing Peridot from fully using her powers, and after a brief struggle, she collapsed into Connie’s arms with a groan.

“Are you okay?” Connie still gripped the ice pack tightly, worried this was just a trick.

“Ugggggh, I must’ve let my gem get super hot. It feels like a million jackhammers pounding,” said Peridot.

“What happened?”

“Hold on, I’m trying to remember. I woke up, and Lapis was having a nightmare. I think I decided she needed all the ice and I shouldn’t be taking any for myself. Wait, is Lapis okay?”

“I think so. See?” Connie carefully turned Peridot around so she could see the hammock where Lapis was lying under a pile of ice.

“Oh, I think I remember doing that, yeah.”

“What are the cans for?”

“They’re cans of chicken soup! Humans say it helps you get better from being sick, right?”

Peridot was terribly proud of herself. Connie hated to let her down. “Peri… you need to actually eat the soup. And the science about it is kind of dubious, anyway. And I doubt it’s going to help with a disease from another planet.”

“You have to eat the soup? Ohhhh, that makes much more sense! I don’t know what I was thinking. Especially with this… thing.” She gestured at the big metal contraption.

Connie’s arms were getting tired, and Peridot was sounding decidedly more sane. “If I let you go, will you promise to keep the ice pack on your gemstone?”

“Yes, I’ve learned my lesson.” Connie let go cautiously, prepared to catch Peridot again if needed, but the Gem simply wobbled back and forth and clutched the ice pack to her forehead. Connie couldn’t help but remember what Bismuth said about “forehead gems.”

“What?” said Peridot, noticing Connie’s gaze.

“Bismuth told me that your gem placement affects your personality. Is that true?”

Peridot looked personally offended. “It drives me crazy that Bis subscribes to that superstitious, unscientific nonsense! You know, she told me once that having my gem on my forehead makes me neurotic! Ridiculous.”

Connie stifled a laugh. “Uh-huh. Ridiculous.”

“How is everyone, anyway? Everyone important, anyway. I’ve been worried about Steven. If he gets gem fever, what if his organic body can’t take it?”

“I was just at the beach house earlier and Steven is fine. Greg is watching him and he has plenty of ice.” There was a very good chance that telling Peridot anything else would result in her dashing off to the warp pad to try and help Steven herself. “Amethyst, Ruby, and Sapphire are there too, and they’re okay. I was just talking to Bis and Pearl, too.”

Peridot nodded. “What about Zircs? It’s kind of my fault she caught it.”

“I’m actually going to check on her next.”

“Good. She’d better be okay. You tell her that. Tell her she’d better be okay, or else.”

“I’ll, uh, pass that along.”

“Thank you, Connie, you’re very helpful,” said Peridot, nearly keeling over as her knees buckled a bit. “And since you’re here, you can be my assistant!”

“Excuse me?”

“I still need to invent a non-melting ice pack for Lapis, but the ice on my gem really slows me down. You’re going to need to help me invent it, and, you know…” She waved her hand around. “Hand me… things. Check my math. Assistant stuff.”

Connie shook her head. “No, we’re not doing that. You need rest.”

“You should be honored I’m choosing you to be my assistant! This is very important, you know. I have to help Lapis.”

“But you already have helped her.”

“What if it’s not enough? What if she has more nightmares? What if I can’t cool her gem down enough and she starts imagining all of the horrible things that happened to her?” Peridot looked absolutely pitiful with water dripping down her face from the ice pack. “I can rest once I’ve finished with that.”

“Peri,” said Connie, sympathetically, “I can tell how much you want to take care of Lapis. I think she knows how much you care, too, and she would tell you that she wants you to take care of yourself now. Wouldn’t she?”

“Well, yes, I suppose she might say that.” Peridot conceded. “But --”

“If Lapis wakes up, don’t you think she’d want to see you snuggled next to her? Don’t you think she wants to see that you’re comfortable and safe?”

“That does sound nice.” Peridot looked longingly at the hammock, eyes blinking heavily. “If I were to… take a break… do you really think Lapis would be okay?”

“Well, I don’t know much about gem fever, but I do know Lapis, and I know she’s really tough. With you looking out for her, I think she’s going to be fine.”

Peridot swayed slightly. Now that Connie had successfully calmed her down, she seemed to be crashing from her earlier manic energy. “Well, okay, maybe just for a little while. I need to get the cans out of the hammock,” she said, picking one up with her powers. It wobbled uncertainly in midair before dropping to the ground with a large thud. Lapis made a soft noise and scrunched her face up, but did not wake.

“Hold on, Peri, let me help with that.” Connie grabbed a stool and climbed on top of it, removing the cans of chicken soup and placing them in a stack on a table. “Actually, would you mind if I took some of the soup? I could make it for Steven.”

“That’s a great idea!” said Peridot. “At least it’ll help someone.” She accepted a boost from Connie to make it into the hammock, and settled in next to Lapis, who stirred slightly. “Where’s my… stuffed…?”

“Stuffed… what, exactly? There are a _lot_ of choices here,” Connie said, looking around the lair at Peridot’s many esoteric stuffed toys lying among the piles of junk.

“Whatever. Something comforting.”

“Okay. How about a…” Connie pulled out a stuffed toy that seemed to be composed of long, colorful tubes. She turned it in multiple directions, trying to figure out what it was. “Is this a stuffed Empire City subway map?”

“Ooh, yeah, give me that one!”

“How is the Empire City subway comforting?”

“‘Cause I went there with my friends!” said Peridot, taking the toy from Connie and cuddling it close to her chest. “Maybe once all this is over, we can go there again,” she said tiredly.

“Maybe!” said Connie. “Are you going to get some sleep, then? No taking off your ice pack and becoming convinced you’ve achieved enlightenment, okay?”

Peridot nodded. “I’ll try not to do that. Hey -- when you see Steven, could you tell him to please not die?”

“Sure, I’ll do that.” Connie gathered up the cans of soup and put them in the little cart with the remaining bucket of ice. She waited a few minutes for Peridot to close her eyes and look genuinely asleep before leaving.

* * *

Connie arrived at the office tower. It was only partially occupied by Gems, having been built much larger than it needed to be in the hopes of future Earth transplants, but there was still usually a fair amount of traffic in and out -- and far less pained groaning behind the closed doors. As she waited for the elevator, she was already feeling a small pang of guilt that she wasn’t doing more to help _all_ the Gems. As if on cue, the Kyanite she had attempted to help earlier rounded the corner, still looking lost.

“Oh, it’s you!” said the Kyanite, holding the ice pack to her shoulder. Connie briefly wondered what _that_ placement meant.

“Hi! Are you having trouble finding your office?”

“This place is laid out all wrong! They obviously needed a better Kyanite on this project. Look at this boring hallway! This should be a big open floor plan, with criss-crossing sky bridges, and a giant fountain in the middle. One with statues dedicated to the glory of the Diamonds!” She slumped over against the wall, having apparently spent her energy on dramatic disapproval of the office tower.

“Well, I don’t know about that, but I can probably help you find your office,” Connie offered. 

“You can?”

“Sure. All of the doors have name plates on them, right? We just need to find yours.”

The Kyanite looked at one of the name plates on a door as though it were a brand new invention. “Oh! That makes so much sense.”

“Do you remember what floor you were on?”

“Not the top floor. I remember that I was disappointed I didn’t get the top floor.”

“Can you be more specific?”

“No.”

Twenty minutes later, they found the Kyanite’s office on the _second_ to top floor. The Gem had spent the entire time providing Connie with disconnected babble about all of the changes she would make to the colony if she were in charge of the layout. Connie smiled and nodded as she scanned the nameplates. 

“Here you are! This is definitely you, right?” Connie asked, pointing to the door.

“Oh, yes, this is it! Thank you so much!” The Kyanite entered her spacious, sunny office, which had very little in it apart from the basic furniture they provided to every Gem. “You know, for everything they’ve done wrong here, this _is_ a very generous space.”

“Yeah, Steven really cares about making the Earth Gems comfortable.”

“I’ve heard that,” said the Kyanite. “You know, my colleagues told me that humans were basically no better than sentient plants. They were really wrong about that! You’re much smarter than I expected.”

Connie bit her tongue and tried to think of a diplomatic response. “Thank… you?” She looked down at the bucket of ice she had been carrying in her cart, which was already starting to melt all over the cans of soup. “Why don’t you take this bucket of ice? I’m probably going to have to get another one anyway.”

“See, this is exactly what I mean! You’re so thoughtful!” said the Kyanite. “When I recover from gem fever, I’m simply going to have to spend more time out of the office. Oh, and convince Pink Diamond to bulldoze the existing buildings so we can redesign everything properly.”

“Well… the first one of those sounds like a good idea.” This floor had quite a few Gem inhabitants, and Connie could hear muffled noises from miserable-sounding Gems. Perhaps she should come back and deliver ice to _everyone_ here? Did she have an ethical obligation to do so?

She decided this train of thought could wait until she had at least finished her planned tasks.

* * *

Connie typed in the passcode to Zircon’s office -- Peridot had installed the security on the door, so it was roughly the same as the lair’s. She pushed the door open slightly, and a fluffy bundle of gray fur was immediately at her ankles, meowing.

“Hi, Stormy,” said Connie quietly, shutting the door. “Where’s -- never mind.”

The office was scrupulously neat, the shelves packed with meticulously organized books, scarves, cat supplies, and odds and ends from various interests and hobbies. Zircon was sprawled out ungracefully on her couch, apparently asleep, but with a distressed look on her face. A half-melted ice pack was on the floor nearby. Connie set the ice bucket down on the desk, nearly tripping over Stormy, who was rubbing against her legs and purring madly. Stormy’s food bowl was empty, and given her neediness and her owner’s current state, she probably hadn’t been fed. 

Thankfully, Connie had cat-sit for Zircon before, and knew where things were kept. As Connie grabbed a can of cat food off the shelf, Zircon suddenly stirred, whimpering loudly. Connie dropped the can of food, which went clattering to the floor and rolled under the desk.

“No! No, no, no, don’t…” Zircon thrashed about on her couch, apparently under the influence of some horrible nightmare.

It was impossible to ignore, and Connie couldn’t just drop an ice pack on Zircon’s gem without it immediately getting knocked to the floor again. She had no choice but to wake her and almost certainly get yelled at by a delirious Gem for the second time that day.

She quickly filled an ice pack and braced herself. “Zircs,” she said, gently shaking Zircon’s shoulder.

Zircon’s eyes flew open and she screamed. Connie involuntarily recoiled backwards. “No! Don’t harvest me!” Zircon yelled, curling into a ball.

“It’s okay!” Connie said. “It’s okay, no one’s going to harvest you!”

“Connie?” Zircon stopped screaming in a brief moment of recognition, before resuming her panic. “Oh stars, they’re going to harvest you too?”

“No! That’s… not even possible, I don’t think. Here. Ice. Gem.” Connie yanked Zircon’s hand from where it was clutching her forehead, dropped the ice pack into it, and pressed it against Zircon’s gemstone.

“What…?” Zircon’s brows furrowed in confusion.

“See, it’s okay. You’re just in your office. No one’s getting harvested.”

Zircon blinked slowly and looked around, eyes glassy and slightly unfocused. “I… see.” She looked at the ice pack in her hand. “Oh, yes, gem fever. Right.”

“The ice seems to be helping.”

“Oh, hello, Connie,” said Zircon, as though she had just noticed. “Did you bring this ice?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Thank you. Did I just scream in your face?”

“A little, yeah.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine. It’s not your fault. I guess it’s been pretty tough for you, huh?”

Now that the fear had left Zircon’s face, she looked absolutely exhausted. “You could say that. Zircons aren’t really…” She waved her hand vaguely, looking for a word.

“Bismuth said something about intellectual Gems having the worst cases of gem fever.”

“Also, fragile Gems. Like being in the middle of... one of those things with the two circles.”

“A Venn diagram?”

“No.” With significant effort, Zircon generated a screen from her glasses, and drew a clumsy Venn diagram on it. “This.”

“That’s a Venn diagram.”

Zircon pulled the screen down and stared at it in utter confusion. Connie took the opportunity to retrieve the cat food from under the desk before resuming an attempt at conversation.

“Bismuth also said it has to do with gem placement, but Peridot says that’s superstition. What does your gem placement mean?”

Zircon looked perturbed. “Ugh. It’s supposed to mean truthful, but also obsessive, if you buy into that trash.”

“Well…” said Connie, opening the can, as Stormy pawed ever more frantically at her legs. “Don’t you think that kind of fits?”

“Connie,” said Zircon, in a failed attempt at sternness, “any good lawyer knows that correlation…” She lost her train of thought and tried again. “Correlation…”

“Doesn’t?” Connie supplied helpfully.

“Correlation doesn’t imply causation! Thank you.”

“If you say so,” said Connie, putting the food bowl down and watching Stormy wolf down the food. “Are you going to be okay by yourself? Those seemed like some pretty intense nightmares.”

“Oh, I’ve had worse. I’m far more comfortable here than I was in Homeworld. They didn’t even give us ice.” She frowned lightly at the ice pack. “I just wish it didn’t slow me down so much. It’s not as bad as the nightmares, but still.”

Connie shrugged. “Is that really a bad thing? You should be resting.”

“I have so much work to do,” said Zircon, a picture of misery.

“Not with gem fever, you don’t.”

“That just leaves me more to catch up on later.”

Connie picked up a toy with dangling glittery streamers and bounced it in front of Stormy. “You’re not working for Blue Diamond any more, remember? Steven’s not going to make you work extra hard because you caught gem fever.”

“I suppose not. He is ridiculously kind.” Zircon’s half-closed eyes flew open in alarm. “Steven! Did he get gem fever?”

“Yes, but…”

“Can he _survive_ gem fever? What if the intense heat harms his organic form? What if he catches on fire?”

“It’s okay! He’s fine. I checked on him not long ago, and he was definitely not on fire.”

“Are you sure?!” said Zircon, skeptical and distressed.

“Yes, I’m sure. I think I would have noticed that.” Just as with Pearl and Peridot, expressing any doubts about Steven’s current condition to a feverish, incapacitated Zircon would be a terrible idea. 

“Well, thank the stars for that. I don’t even know what we’d all do without him. Run around like headless Rubies, I suppose. Could you tell him…”

“Tell him what?”

“Tell him I hope that his fever hallucinations are not completely terrifying.”

“Sure!” 

The sound of a muffled shout from elsewhere in the office tower startled Connie and caused Zircon to curl into a ball again. “Oh stars, what was that? I’ve been hearing noises like that all day!” said Zircon, muffled behind her knees.

“I think it’s just other sick Gems.” Connie thought about her earlier dilemma. “Hey, I have an ethical question. I want to go check on Steven, but I think there’s a lot of Gems in the office tower who are suffering and could use ice deliveries. Greg’s taking care of Steven, so he’s probably fine, but I’d still really rather check in on him before helping out everyone else. I feel guilty, though, because there are so many Gems without anyone to take care of them.”

Zircon blinked. 

“I know you’re not really in a condition for ethical questions.”

“Please just go check on the Gem holding Era 3 together.”

“That’s fair.”

“Is Peri okay? How about everyone else?”

“Oh, right, Peri told me to tell you that you’d better be okay, or else.”

“I’d better be okay or… what, exactly? Peri really needs to learn how to comfort Gems without threatening them. Still, that’s nice of her, especially considering she gave it to me.”

“Everyone else is okay, too. Well, as okay as you’d think.” Another thing that would not be helpful to tell Zircon: that Peridot might, at any time, decide that solving the problems of Gemkind through science was more important than her own health, safety, or sanity.

“That’s good. Thank you for delivering ice and feeding my cat. I owe you.”

“No, you don’t. I’m happy to help.”

“Yes, I do. I’ll have to think of something when I’m… thinking.” Zircon’s head drooped forward and snapped up again.

“You should probably get some sleep.”

“Mmm. That does sound like a good idea.” She settled back onto her couch.

Connie was momentarily surprised that she had agreed so easily -- a sure sign of how run down she was. “Good. And make sure you keep ice on your gem. And no work. And no screens!”

“That’s a lot of instructions.”

“I can come by tomorrow to feed Stormy again.”

“That’d be really nice,” Zircon mumbled, barely awake.

“Hope you feel better.” Connie shut the door behind her, wondering how some of these Gems ever survived Era 2.

* * *

Connie packed the soup cans into her backpack and looked around for Lion, preparing to head back to the beach house. Lion was lounging on his back in the middle of a sunbeam in the square, a napping Ruby on top of his stomach. Connie filled an ice pack from the machine and walked over to stir the Ruby awake.

“Huh?” she said, bleary-eyed, blinking in the bright sunlight. 

“Sorry to disturb you, but I need this Lion,” said Connie. “If I give you this ice pack, will you please choose somewhere else to sleep?”

“Okay!” said the Ruby, taking the ice pack, depositing it on the Gem on her knee, and promptly going back to sleep.

Connie sighed and shook the Ruby awake again. “I’m sorry, but I really do need this Lion. Where do you live? Can I help you get back there?”

The Ruby looked around. “I’m not sure… I think I live over there?” She pointed at a several story tall building that primarily housed Quartzes and Rubies. “I don’t need help getting home, though. I found this great pillow.” She stretched out contentedly and closed her eyes again.

“But that’s my transportation…” said Connie, her protest falling on deaf ears. She hated to bother the Ruby, but she couldn’t exactly just stay in Little Homeworld, with all of her friends sick, until the Ruby decided she’d had her fill of sleeping on top of Lion. Instead, she took a different approach, pulling a bag of fish treats from her backpack. The rustling sound made Lion open one of his eyes, and as soon as Connie opened the bag, he flipped over, depositing the Ruby on the ground as he stretched.

“Hey, my pillow!” The Ruby sat up, rubbing at her eyes.

“Sorry!” said Connie. “Is there anything I can do to…?” The Ruby had already grumpily picked up the ice pack and was stalking off to her home.

Connie hopped on Lion, and it was only a few minutes before they reached the house. She pulled a light jacket out of her backpack before entering. Sapphire had the entire living room coated in thick ice, icicles hanging from the ceiling, and Connie had to be very careful not to slip in her thin sneakers. Ruby and Sapphire were nestled into a corner near the warp pad, while Amethyst lay sprawled across the couch.

Amethyst’s eyes opened as soon as Connie entered the door. “Hey, you’re back.”

“Hi, Amethyst. How are you doing?”

“Booooooooored,” she said. “So bored. Yo, Sapph, how long is this going to take?”

“Two more days,” said Sapphire, softly and tiredly. “The same as the last eighteen times you asked this same question, and the same as the next twenty-seven times you’ll ask today.”

“Two days is so long,” said Amethyst. “I never thought I’d get sick of sleeping. Gem fever sucks.”

“Is there anything I can do?” asked Connie, unpacking the cans of soup onto the counter.

“Nah. No, wait -- what are those? Can I have one?”

“A can of soup? Sure, I can heat one up for you.” She heard a loud thump and turned to see Amethyst’s arm, stretched out halfway to the kitchen, lying on the floor.

“Owwwww,” said Amethyst. “Why does that hurt so much?”

“I don’t think you’re supposed to shapeshift when your Gem’s overheated,” said Connie.

“Gem fever is the worst.” Amethyst slowly retracted her arm, wincing. “Can you gimme one of those cans?”

Connie walked over and handed Amethyst a can of chicken and rice soup, which Amethyst shoved into her mouth, whole. “Not bad. Crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside. Wait -- I need to shapeshift to finish eating this, don’t I?”

“I guess so.”

Amethyst groaned from the discomfort. “Sapph, why didn’t you warn me about this?”

“You would have done it anyway.”

“How are you doing, Sapphire?”

“Uncomfortable, but still able to produce ice. Just as I expected.”

“How about Ruby?”

Ruby’s eyes opened. “Aw, I’m doing fine. I like the heat! It’s probably even good for me.”

“No, it isn’t,” said Sapphire.

“Well, if you guys need any help, let me know. I’m heading upstairs to check on Steven.”

“Good idea, I bet Steven’s as bored as I am,” said Amethyst.

Connie walked up the stairs and poked her head into Steven’s room. He was laying on his back in bed, shirtless, a bag of ice draped over the gem on his stomach, staring up at the ceiling. Nearby, Greg was in a chair with his head tilted backwards, snoring lightly as he napped. Steven spotted Connie and gave her a weak smile and a wave.

“Hey, Steven,” she said softly, so as not to wake Greg. She sat on the bed and ruffled Steven’s hair, smiling. “How are you doing?”

“Fine,” he said.

“Are you really, though?”

Steven chuckled, then winced. “I’ve never really been sick before. It’s a new experience.”

“Not even a cold?”

“No. I guess I wasn’t around that many people growing up.”

“That makes sense. I used to constantly catch colds in elementary school. My mom would always lecture me about washing my hands and not sharing food. She made me feel like it was my fault for catching a cold.” Connie took Steven’s hand in hers and squeezed it. “She and Dad would always take care of me, though. I want to take care of you the same way. And that’s why I want you to be honest with me -- how do you feel?”

“Kind of like I’ve been run over by a truck,” Steven admitted. “My whole body aches, and my gem is so hot. I’m not even usually aware of my gem, but it’s so uncomfortable, even with ice on it. The heat is awful, but the ice makes me feel slowed down, like my brain’s full of cotton puffs and snow.”

Connie checked his forehead. It still felt like a normal human temperature. She briefly lifted up the ice pack, and felt intense heat radiating from his gem. There was no way he could have something that boiling hot embedded in him and still be alive -- it must be his healing powers keeping the rest of his body from cooking. “I still think you should let my mom check you.”

“Nooooo,” Steven protested. “I’m going to be fine in a couple of days. Sapphire said so. Besides, it’s not like I’m dying or anything. Your mom is just going to want to put me in the hospital and run a bunch of tests on me.”

“But… we don’t really _know_ if you’re going to be okay. There’s never been a half-human, half-Gem hybrid before. Having a superheated gemstone next to your vital organs _cannot_ be healthy.”

“Your mom’s not going to know what to do about gem fever, though! The other Gems do. Plus, I want to stay in my nice, comfy bed. Please, Connie.”

Connie sighed. “Okay -- for now! If things get worse I’m bringing my mom here, and you can’t stop me.”

Steven nodded.

“Also, I want you to promise that you’ll make an appointment after this to make sure there are no lasting long-term effects.”

“But --”

“Promise!”

“Okay! I promise. Future Steven’s going to regret it, though.”

“Thank you, and thank future Steven in advance.” Connie ran a hand over Steven’s cheek. She was so used to Steven being so full of energy and life -- even these days, when accumulated stress and trauma combined with the responsibilities of Era 3 tended to weigh Steven down much more than when he was a kid, that boundless sunshine was still lurking just under the surface, waiting to be drawn out with a kind word or a song. It was hard to think of even a few days where that Steven effectively did not exist in the world. She looked at the offending, overheated gem, silently wishing for things to go back to normal, just like when she was a kid and felt a cold coming on.

“Bis was telling me that your gem placement means something for your personality. Did she ever tell you that?”

“Yeah!” Steven smiled. “She said mine means compassion, but also sometimes neglecting your own needs.”

“Well, that’s accurate,” said Connie, grinning.

“I guess so.” Steven blushed. “So you went to Little Homeworld, right? How is everyone?”

Connie summarized her day for Steven, sugarcoating the details so he wouldn’t worry about his friends _too_ much. Still, by the end of it, he was frowning.

“I wish I could be there to help them.”

“You will be! First, you have to get better. Everyone was really worried about you, you know.”

“It’s really not _that_ bad, though. There’s probably something I could do…”

“Steven.” Connie used her very best stern disapproval voice, the one she had learned from her mother. “What did we _just say_ about neglecting your own needs? You’re clearly in no condition to leave your bed right now. Sometimes you have to help yourself before you can help other people.”

“I know, I know! But what if something really bad happens, like Era 2 loyalist Gems attack Little Homeworld, and I’m not there to protect everyone?”

Connie ran her fingers through his hair. “The Era 2 loyalists probably have gem fever too, so I don’t really think we have to worry much about that. Also, that’s why Peridot installed all of that security -- so we wouldn’t have to worry about Gems getting hurt or kidnapped.” 

“I know that. I still worry, though.”

Connie’s heart ached. “Can’t you let me do the worrying for at least a little while? We’re supposed to be partners, remember? You’re the biscuit.”

“And you’re the strawberry,” Steven finished.

“That’s right. And it’s very, very important to me that my biscuit is nice and healthy.”

“This is starting to not make sense,” said Steven, smiling.

“You know what I mean! Being partners means that sometimes you protect me and sometimes I protect you. Well, now it’s time for me to protect you.”

“You are awfully good at it,” said Steven. “I guess when you put it that way, I can stay here a little while longer.”

“That’s right!” said Connie. “Also, if I don’t keep you comfortable in bed, I’m pretty sure Pearl is going to have a conniption. Not to mention everyone else who was asking about you.”

“Pearl having a conniption sounds about right.”

“She had a bunch of instructions for you, like you shouldn’t shapeshift or draw your weapon.”

“Well, I wasn’t really planning on getting into a fight.” Steven laughed.

“She also wants you to eat lots of healthy fruits and vegetables.”

“See, I don’t need to talk to your mom, I can just talk to Pearl.”

“Also, Peri said to try not to die, and Zircs said she hopes your fever hallucinations aren’t terrifying.”

“I’ll, um… try?” said Steven. “It’s really nice that everyone’s thinking of me. I hope I don’t let them down.” He caught sight of Connie’s glare. “I know, I know, it’s about getting better, not worrying about other Gems.”

“Good!” said Connie. “Oh, I can make you chicken soup, if you want! I got the cans from Peridot.”

“Wait, did you explain why Peridot had chicken soup?”

“I think she probably saw on TV that it’s what you’re supposed to have when you’re sick. Now, do you want rice, noodles, or stars?”

“Stars, please!”

“I probably could’ve guessed that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to go back and update my unfinished fics I feel guilty about, I suppose!
> 
> Thanks to [Glowbug](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glowbug/pseuds/Glowbug) for being her.
> 
> Thanks for reading this shameless excuse to write sickfic.


End file.
